Move it Monday.
Davina
27 Comments
10,000 steps.
Here's a little fun from Nancy Sinatra since we're talking about walking:
Walking is an easy way to get your 20 minutes a day in. There are recent studies that have shown that walking 10,000 steps a day will greatly improve your health and fitness.
This is from thewalkingsite.com:
"Maybe you have heard the recent guidelines about walking 10,000 steps per day. How far is 10,000 steps anyway? The average person's stride length is approximately 2.5 feet long. That means it takes just over 2,000 steps to walk one mile, and 10,000 steps is close to 5 miles.
A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits. I have outlined the basic 10,000 steps program, but also added a commentary below.
A reasonable goal for most people is to increase average daily steps each week by 500 per day until you can easily average 10,000 per day. Example: If you currently average 3000 steps each day, your goal for week one is 3500 each day. Your week 2 goal is 4000 each day. Continue to increase each week and you should be averaging 10,000 steps by the end of 14 weeks.
There are many ways to increase your daily steps. Use your imagination and come up with your own list:
Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend Walk the dog Use the stairs instead of the elevator Park farther from the store Better yet, walk to the store Get up to change the channel Window shop Plan a walking meeting Walk over to visit a neighbor Get outside to walk around the garden or do a little weeding
If you want to get a walking program startedcheck out the help that you can get here.
August contest winner:
Laura C. you're the winner! What a CLOSE contest this month! Four people were in the running and within just a couple of days of each other. Laura went to bed before midnight and got at least 7 hours of sleep for more 28 days this month! I'd like to know the secret to that streak! Awesome job, Laura. I think I know where you want your gift certificate from, email me just so I can be sure though!
September contest:
Four winners this month!! Okay...since Nancy's got our boots in the mood for walking, let's have that be our contest this month. Log in every day to the Move it Monday post and tell us how many miles you walked. The FOUR people who walk the farthest (most miles) this month will be our winners. Yes, I said four people. The top four walkers will win a $30 gift certificate to their favorite healthy place to eat, spa, or place to to shop. So get out those walking shoes (if you have to...dust them off...) and let's get walking.
If the physical benefits of walking haven't yet put you over the edge to get out there and pound the pavement, here are some emotional incentives to get you going. You can find the list below here:
Walking slows mental decline. A study of 6,000 women, ages 65 and older, performed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that age-related memory decline was lower in those who walked more. The women walking 2.5 miles per day had a 17-percent decline in memory, as opposed to a 25-percent decline in women who walked less than a half-mile per week.
Walking lowers Alzheimer’s risk. A study from the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville found that men between the ages of 71 and 93 who walked more than a quarter of a mile per day had half the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who walked less.
Walking improves sleep. A study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that women, ages 50 to 75, who took one-hour morning walks, were more likely to relieve insomnia than women who didn’t walk.
Walking lightens mood. Research reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that walking 30 minutes a day boosted the moods in depressed patients faster than antidepressants. Why? Walking releases natural painkilling endorphins to the body – one of the emotional benefits of exercise. A California State University, Long Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were.
Besides these mental benefits of walking, it also serves as a form of meditation. An outdoor stroll can help erase a bad day as you instead start to focus on the surrounding environment. Carolyn S. Kortge began walking in the ’80s and entered her first race-walking competition in the ’90s, eventually becoming a USA Track and Field Association bronze and silver race-walking medalist. Carolyn, who lives in Eugene, Ore., was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in 2004, but continues to keep her mind off the pain in her knees and hands by walking daily.
“When you’re walking there’s an opportunity for meditative intent. You can be silent and focus on creating a connection with your body through prayer, breathing or a phrase,” she says. “It’s a wonderful way of changing your focus.”
walking. LIFE.
Reader Comments (27)
Yea Laura C! Okay, so I'm training for a marathon - can I log my miles runningas part of the contest? Is that fair/okay? I ran 3 miles this morning.
Yes, Laura, you can count the time you're training. For sure. Way to go on a marathon!
Woo hoo! My secret is I am motivated by a competition. :)
Okay, this contest sounds fun and I am also training for a 1/2 marathon but might be benched with the knee. I did go to the dr. today and he said I was very knowledgeable about my condition and filled me in on what I didn't know. I think it is a ligament that wraps on both sides and around the knee. I do get a MRI finally on Monday. In the meantime I will see how it goes.
Davina, interesting note to your blog entry. Every morning I walk I feel happy. I haven't "walked" in two weeks and I feel depression creep in. If I can't walk again, it will be back to the pool for water aerobics...another happy making sport!
I'm gonna wave the white flag right now. I rarely track my miles.
BUT tonight I walked to the store, and I know that's 2 miles round trip. But my other walking ... I'll have to stop wandering aimlessly ....
wait a minute .... i have a pedometer around here somewhere. maybe i can dig that up and it will remedy my not knowing how far i walk .....
I must say this is one great 'perk' of blindness and not being able to drive ... Cricket and I do SO much walking each day. Love it.
Do we only count how much we walk on Mondays or is it anytime through the week that we walk?
Thanks
Tracy in AR
Hey Tracy, you'll count everyday. Every day come to the Move it Monday post for the week (that would be this one for this week) and tell us how many miles you've walked for the day. By next Monday when I do a new Move it Monday post you will ideally have posted 7 comments to this post, each of them telling us how many miles you've walked each day this week. You'll do that for each Move it Monday post this month. I post a Move it Monday post every Monday (unless it's a Labor day holiday and I'm trying to put a new floor in my studio...) Did I say that very clearly or is it even more confusing now? :)
I guess I'll have to step aside on this one. My knee still hurts. I can ride my bike, however and thank goodness too! I NEED those endorphins!!!
I want to share with all of you that I officially declared myself off sugar yesterday. The way I feel about sugar and baked goods is close to addiction. I was reading in Dr. Christiane Northrup's book "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom" that sugar can be an addiction very similar to an alcoholic. Not only that but sugar is an inflammatory in your body, among other things.
Sugar and refined carbohydrates raise blood sugar, also increasing endorphins! But then the sugar crash! They recommend a better way of exercise, sunlight and meditation.
Thanks for listening. I thought it might be helpful on the M it M post!
Laura, oh no! I'm sorry to hear about your knee. I think you could still count your time on the bike...
Thanks for the info on sugar. I just told the kids last night that we are going off sugar for the month except for one dove after dinner. They were super excited about that announcement...not really...
I think we need it though...I know I need it. I tanked up at that end of the summer on fattening, delicious, sweet foods. Time to give them a little break.
I hope your knee feels better!
karen, I think I'm going to get a pedometer, too. I have a feeling it will make me more competitive with myself. I'll want to beat my previous day's steps everyday...
Becky, you may beat us all just by what you do everyday! :)
Okay, ran 4 miles of intervals tonight - UGH! (7 miles total this week) Laura - I'm so sorry about your knee. I was training by myself for a marathon last year, over-trained and injured my hamstring. It's a bummer. I hope it heals fast!
i have yet to dig up that pedometer .... but i seriously guess i walked 5 miles today. i had a session tonight, and i'm always so much more active during sessions.
I think it is the ligament that wraps around the back of my knee and down the two sides to the front-ish. I get an MRI Monday.
I did ride the kids to school on bikes 2.4 miles round trip and came home and did my situp tape and a few knee strengthener exercises.
I made it through the day without sugar. Day 2! I threw away the leftover candy from the birthday party. :)
Thanks for all the support on my knee issue. I knew you guys would understand. :)
Ran 3 miles this morning - still fatigued from last nights Yassos - so I'm excited for a no-run Friday before the long run on Saturday!
Go Laura! Run it!
Knee's feeling better today.
Biked it to school this morning.
Ok, found my pedometer. the one down on it is that there's not a cover, so sometimes it bumps and loses count. yeah, it was free, so i can't complain about the price!
I'm at 3 p.m. and in my daily work have gone about 2100 steps (almost 1 mile) ... not bad, but to keep up with this crowd, I'm gonna really have to step it up (PUN INTENDED!!!!!!!).
walked 3 miles today.
i spent a LOT of time wandering aimlessly around Target tonight, working up to about 7,000 steps. sheesh. i didn't realize how inactive i am overall. this will absolutely help me to "step it up" ;)
Laura S. way to work those intervals for 4 miles! Wow!
Laura C. I can't believe you've been sugar free for 3 days. That's awesome. You're my hero.
Karen, I know! 10,000 steps is a lot of moving around! I walk a few miles in the morning and it's still not 10,000 steps. I'm getting a pedometer this weekend. I'm so excited!! I think it will inspire me to get more steps in! wohoo!
Laura C. I'm so glad your knee is doing better. That's great news.
My birthday is this weekend...I don't think I can live without sugar...I'm just getting into the swing of my routine and I don't want to forego my b-day cake. what to do!?!
Happy Birthday Davina! (Eat the cake!)
No mileage to log today - but did enjoy yoga last night to stretch out all the running tightness. Will definitely be back tomorrow to log my long run!